Instagram Could Soon Bring Hindi Language Support to Expand User Base in India

After Hindi content has all but taken over YouTube in the country, it’s time for social media platforms to follow suit. According to the findings of app researcher, Instagram could be working on making the platform more appealing to the Indian masses. The app researcher by the name of Jane Manchun Wong found evidence that the photo and video sharing website has been testing the Hindi version of the app.

Instagram in Hindi: Screenshots Point to Comprehensive Hindi Integration

Interestingly, the screenshots provided by Wong in her tweet point to a much deeper integration of the Devanagari script and doesn’t just restrict the language to the comments section. A series of screenshots spanning the comments section, settings, and IGTV show that the Hindi integration is far reaching. In addition to Hindi elements in the comments section, the settings screen also has some elements displayed using Hindi font.

That fact that only some of the settings options are represented in Hindi could most likely because the screenshot comes from what could be an early test build of the app. What’s surprising is that even the IGTV section is replete with Hindi replacements for UI elements and sections such as For You, Following, Popular and History Tabs.

Instagram is working on supporting Hindi as part of their growth efforts

Instagram in Hindi: Leak Originates from Credible Source

The leak seems credible because the 23-year old app researcher is well known for consistently delivering some of the biggest leaks in the tech world, including the distinction of being the one who discovered Facebook’s dating feature. Wong’s twitter feed is full of leaks borne out of her penchant for reverse engineering apps. Her leaks have been credible so far and exposed many app features before the companies could roll them out.

The Hindi integration doesn’t come as a surprise since India is one of the largest growing markets for smartphone. Everyone from smartphone makers to big tech corporations have been making a beeline to make their products more accessible to the burgeoning Indian market. While India still has a relatively large percentage of English speakers, these numbers still pale in comparison to the teeming millions of Hindi speaking populace spread across tier 2 and tier 3 cities where smartphone penetration has been increasing rapidly.

From Facebook and WhatsApp to Google itself catering to Hindi speaking audiences through embedded support for the language in Google Assistant and allied smart products, tech companies are gradually realising the potential of Indian smartphone demographic to grow exponentially. These companies are already making the moves and setting up the requisite framework that will be needed if they are to stake a claim to the potential billion strong consumer base in India. Much of this growth has also been spurred to a large extent by Reliance opening the floodgates of the Internet by providing cheap and reliable internet access to the Indian masses.

Content peddler by day and avid gamer by night, Nachiket has been obsessed with computers since the days of the 8086. He has worked with some of the reknowned tech publications and media houses like UTV, Network 18, Digit, Chip, TechTree, Tech2, International Business Times Australia, and DNA. His free time is meant for tinkering with hobby grade R/C, or just sharpening his knives. He also has a kitten named Nigel and is ready to give up his aquariums for him.